Weekly Reading (4/26/24)

A note - you'll start seeing "gift link" in some places, which means it's a link you should be able to access even if you don't have a subscription to the publication..

This may be a bit hard to read, but it's really important: The Rape Denialists: Why has it proved so hard for so many on the left to acknowledge what happened on October 7? (The Atlantic - gift link)

Miscalculation Led to Escalation in Clash Between Israel and Iran (NYT - gift link)

As Florida restricts treatment for trans adults, one clinic presses on (WaPo - gift link)

‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets (The Guardian)

Trump has set up a perfect avenue for potential corruption (Vox)

On the Problem of Rooting for the Women to Fix This (Slate)

Report: TikTok’s efforts to silo US data are ‘largely cosmetic’ (The Verge)

A unionized Volkswagen plant in Tennessee could mean big things for workers nationwide (Vox)

Prominent MLB team physician sounds alarm on pitching injuries (The Athletic)

A teacher promised his 1978 class an eclipse party. He just hosted it. (WaPo - gift link)

This is very sad because I, um, do: MLB Doesn’t Have Much Appetite for Innings Eaters Anymore (The Ringer)

How Jewish Soldiers Celebrated Passover in the Midst of the Civil War (Smithsonian)

Weekly Reading (4/19/24)

If you only read one of my links this week, please make it this one: The Antisemitism Post (tm) (Life Is a Sacred Text)

Related: The Jews Aren’t Taking Away TikTok (The Atlantic)

Secret Russian foreign policy document urges action to weaken the U.S. (WaPo)

This is bad! The Supreme Court effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states (Vox)

The Giant Threat Lurking Behind Florida’s November Abortion Vote (Slate)

This is what you're falling for when you talk about voting third party/independent: Trump Allies Have a Plan to Hurt Biden’s Chances: Elevate Outsider Candidates (NYT)

With AI, anyone can be a victim of nonconsensual porn. Can laws keep up? (The 19th*)

!!! Legendary Yankees radio voice John Sterling retires: 'I leave very, very happy' (MLB)

We must find a new way to fund investigative sports reporting (CJR)

As MLB’s uniform issues persist, Nike searches for solutions to sweat stains and mismatched greys (The Athletic)

Pompeii: Breathtaking new paintings found at ancient city (BBC)

In Praise of Reading Le Carré’s Entire Oeuvre In Order (CrimeReads)

Conductors Had One Job. Now They Have Three or Four (The New Yorker)

Weekly Reading (4/12/24)

Inside the ruins of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital (WaPo)

This story is wild: Top Israeli spy chief exposes his true identity in online security lapse (The Guardian)

Arizona upholds an 1864 ban on abortion — making it illegal in the state (The 19th)

‘Catastrophic,’ ‘a shock’: Arizona’s abortion ruling threatens to upend 2024 races (WaPo)

I Spent a Weird, Unsettling Night With RFK Jr.’s Die-Hard Supporters (TNR)

U.K. Lawmaker Admits Giving Out Colleagues’ Numbers in ‘Honey Trap’ Scandal (NYT)

Good news: Democracy won in Senegal. Here’s why it matters. (Vox)

Pitchers are buckling and breaking across baseball. What is to blame? (WaPo)

Oakland Ballers sign Kelsie Whitmore, who would be first woman to play in Pioneer League (The Athletic)

How Soccer Learned to Embrace Ramadan: From Faked Injuries to Bespoke Diets (NYT)

Bound for Sacramento, Will the A’s Find an Appropriate Ballpark There? (FanGraphs)

Taking the Long Count (Baseball Prospectus)

Weekly Reading (4/5/24)

Biden’s Increasingly Contradictory Israel Policy (New Yorker)

This isn't the first time the U.S. and Israel have disagreed over Gaza (NPR)

Ugandan Court Upholds Draconian Anti-Gay Law (NYT)

The astonishing radicalism of Florida’s new ban on abortion (Vox)

How the imagery of White women victims is being used to stoke anti-immigrant fear (The 19th*)

But this is great! US immigration adds third gender option to paperwork (LGBTQ Nation)

The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement (NYT)

New Hampshire towns are lagging on providing accessible voting machines. This bill could help. (NH Bulletin)

Mosques in NYC struggle to house and feed an influx of Muslim migrants this Ramadan (PBS)

Patrick Bailey Is a Unicorn Pitch Framer (FanGraphs)

Stone age wall found at bottom of Baltic Sea ‘may be Europe’s oldest megastructure’ (The Guardian)

The Gig Pitcher (Baseball Prospectus)

Weekly Reading (3/29/24)

Supreme Court seems skeptical anti-abortion doctors can challenge abortion drug mifepristone (The 19th*)

House passes bill barring trans girls from middle school, high school girls’ sports teams (NH Bulletin)

Inside Pyongyang, North Korea’s Capital of Control (Atlas Obscura)

This is fascinating: A Reporter’s Journey Into How the U.S. Funded the Bomb (NYT)

!! Introducing StuffPro and PitchPro (Baseball Prospectus)

I love him: [Atlanta's] Opening Day starter Spencer Strider: Dominant, smart, funny, ‘kind of weird’ (The Athletic)

Rarely has an article been so exactly attuned to my interests: Ground Control to the Pentagon: Assessing the Names of MLB’s Proprietary Databases (FanGraphs)

Drinking with Agatha Christie (CrimeReads)

Is Baseball a Renewable Resource? (Baseball Prospectus)

The Early Universe Was Bananas (NYT)

The Sweet Jewish History of Hot Chocolate (The Nosher)

Why the Padres partnered with a local university to create a biomechanics lab (The Athletic)

Weekly Reading (3/22/24)

Last week totally got away from me, but hey, we're back!

I see: Department of Education blocks key data in audit of education freedom accounts (NH Bulletin)

Nicaragua oppression is ‘tantamount to crimes against humanity’, says report (The Guardian)

Why Everything Changed in Haiti: The Gangs United (NYT)

The Woman Fighting Russia's Carceral State (The Atlantic)

A South End barber offers ‘gender-affirming’ haircuts and a safe space for the queer community (WBUR)

Joey Votto’s journey begins anew with the Toronto Blue Jays: ‘I feel the fire’ (The Athletic)

Joey Votto Makes His Own Call (Baseball Prospectus)

! Baseball Video Game Will Include Women for the First Time (NYT)

‘Opera has never been White’: The invisible legacy of Black women in classical music (The 19th*)

This is a very useful series: A Visual Scouting Primer: Pitching, Part One (Fangraphs)

You Really Need a Soup Mug (Eater)

The remote Swedish town that produced a generational NHL talent (The Athletic)

Weekly Reading (3/8/24)

This is great: First over-the-counter birth control pill will go on sale this month (Granite Post)

Unfortunately, she lost the primary on Tuesday, but this is still a worthwhile read: Barbara Lee takes another stand (The 19th*)

How Was Israel Caught Off-Guard? (War on the Rocks)

Finding in-patient psychiatric care is especially hard for older adults (NH Bulletin)

Brazil Has a Dengue Emergency, Portending a Health Crisis for the Americas (NYT)

I'm so curious to see how this goes: Charlie Culberson, a Braves fan favorite, embarks on new career as relief pitcher (The Athletic)

This is fascinating: Cracking the Code of Linear B (Antigone)

A Good Walk-Off Spoiled (Baseball Prospectus)

Apocalypse-Proof (Places)

Rebecca Solnit: Slow Change Can Be Radical Change (LitHub)

This Organ Is Playing a 639-Year-Long Song. It Just Changed Chords for the First Time in Two Years (Smithsonian)

Willa Cather and Yehudi Menuhin: An Unlikely, Unwavering Friendship (NYT)

Weekly Reading (3/1/24)

Later this month I'm participating in the Knit for Food knitathon to raise money for hunger charities - check out my page and donate here!

NH GOP’s stance on personhood echoes Alabama IVF decision (Granite Post)

Also: Rights, lives, and health of LGBTQ+ individuals and families in NH are under threat (NH Bulletin)

“It’s Best to Can­cel”: Resilient Lis­ten­ing and Our Kids Today (Jewish Book Council)

Her son died in day care. Ten years later, the system that could’ve saved him is still failing. (The 19th*)

Leaked Files Show the Secret World of China’s Hackers for Hire (NYT)

How Andrew Bailey and the Red Sox Run Prevention Unit are revamping the pitching staff (The Athletic)

!!! Anna Sui’s new collection is inspired by Agatha Christie, so obviously the runway was at the Strand. (LitHub)

How the Starter Lost Control (Baseball Prospectus)

No, “the Church” did not kill Joan of Arc, you credulous dullards (Going Medieval)

The tastiest alternate identity in every farm system (MLB.com)

Long Live the Snake: Cleopatra's Poison (Antigone)

Need a Home for 80,000 Puzzles? Try an Italian Castle. (NYT)

Weekly Reading (2/23/24)

This is terrifying: Alabama Supreme Court rules that frozen embryos outside the womb are children (The 19th*)

Strongmen Find New Ways to Abuse Interpol, Despite Years of Fixes (NYT)

Why aid groups are warning of a new humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo (PBS)

A must-read for baseball fans: A Pitcher’s View on the Tommy John “Epidemic” (Baseball Prospectus)

!! I am cautiously, um, cautious. Sam Mendes, Sony & Apple Corps Set Four Beatles Theatrical Movies On Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison & Ringo Starr (Deadline)

After making history, Bianca Smith has moved on from the Red Sox (The Athletic)

Cape Cod needs to clean up its water. The solutions could cost billions (WBUR)

Nvidia’s Big Tech Rivals Put Their Own A.I. Chips on the Table (NYT)

How Noah Kahan Went from Vermont to TikTok to the Grammys (The New Yorker)

How the Dodgers executed ‘Plan A’ with their extravagant offseason (The Athletic)

Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages (The Japan Times)

Contents of Charles Darwin’s entire personal library revealed for first time (The Guardian)

Weekly Reading (2/16/24)

Note: I'm participating in the Knit for Food knitathon in March to raise money for hunger charities! If you have a few spare dollars and would like to support this important cause, head this way.

I don't usually do breaking news here, but reports of Alexei Navalny's death are coming out as I'm writing this, and it's obviously not shocking but I'm so sad about it. If you want to keep up with updates I suggest the Guardian liveblog.

Has life improved for transgender Americans in the last 10 years? Not really. (The 19th*)

H.I.V. Groups Warn of Privacy Risks in How C.D.C. Tracks Virus Samples (NYT)

Grisly secrets of the ‘disappeared’ of Anglo-Irish war uncovered by research (The Guardian)

How the MAGA-fed Taylor Swift conspiracy theories caught fire (WaPo)

Pawol to be first woman to umpire MLB Spring Training games since 2007 (MLB.com)

And! A’s hire Jenny Cavnar as first female primary play-by-play announcer in MLB (The Athletic)

My taxes are too complicated to qualify, but NH folks, definitely check if you do! New Hampshire tax filers have a new filing option, directly from the IRS (NH Bulletin)

MLB players dressing down Nike, Fanatics over new uniforms that look ‘like a replica’ (The Athletic)

How Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Secrets of the Bahamas’ First Inhabitants (Smithsonian)

How to Create a Black Hole Out of Thin Air (NYT)

Grizzly Bears Are Mostly Vegan (The Atlantic)

Weekly Reading (2/9/24)

Earth breached a feared level of warming over the past year. Are we doomed? (WaPo)

Germany’s rude political awakening (Politico EU)

Stop pretending they're not trying to eradicate us: Trans people in Florida can no longer update their driver’s licenses (The 19th*)

Why there's a storm brewing about global food aid from the U.S. (NPR)

!! Dartmouth basketball players are employees, labor board decides (Granite Post)

Age fraud on the rise in Dominican Republic, sowing chaos for MLB teams, young players (The Athletic)

Oh no: Seiji Ozawa, Captivating Conductor, Is Dead at 88 (NYT)

The Bizarre Story Behind Shinzo Abe's Assassination (The Atlantic)

For Starters (Baseball Prospectus)

Can Chicago Save the Jewish Deli from Extinction? (The Nosher)

Decolonizing the Gothic (CrimeReads)

What’s in a Name? The Battle of Baby T. Rex and Nanotyrannus. (NYT)

Weekly Reading (2/2/24)

Details Emerge on U.N. Workers Accused of Aiding Hamas Raid (NYT)

Surging Red Sea violence could imperil a fragile Yemen (WaPo)

How Taiwan preserved election integrity by fighting back against disinformation (PBS)

How Gretchen Whitmer Made Michigan a Democratic Stronghold (The New Yorker)

A Vision of Russia as a Country That Runs on Violence (The Atlantic)

‘That’s why I still play’: At 46, Fernando Rodney pitches on, seeking an MLB comeback (The Athletic)

!!! Bayeux Museum lands 1872 reproduction of tapestry from Rolling Stone’s estate (The Guardian)

How Mayim Bialik Lost Her Role as the Main Host of ‘Jeopardy!’ (The Ringer)

Have Sonny Gray, Pablo López, and Brandon Pfaadt Cracked the Sweeper Code? (FanGraphs)

Winners of the 2023 Close-Up Photographer of the Year (The Atlantic)

The Jewish History of Cream of Wheat (The Nosher)

A Victorian Dinosaur Park Finds Its Way in the 21st Century (NYT)

Weekly Reading (1/26/24)

The Governor Who Wants to Be Trump’s Next Apprentice (The Atlantic)

Skipping School: America’s Hidden Education Crisis (ProPublica)

I Am Being Pushed Out of One of the Last Public Squares, the Library (NYT)

Did an Abortion Ban Cost a Young Texas Woman Her Life? (New Yorker)

Revealing the Smithsonian’s ‘racial brain collection’ (WaPo)

‘World’s Oldest Pyramid’ in Indonesia? A Study Draws Skepticism (NYT)

The Dodgers’ Advantage Goes Deeper Than Their Pockets (The Ringer)

What to Do with Climate Emotions (New Yorker)

The Scientist Using Bugs to Help Solve Murders (Smithsonian)

Rickie Lambert, conspiracy theories – and why footballers are vulnerable (The Athletic)

The Last Frontier of Machine Translation (The Atlantic)

 'Part of the team': Andy Fade more than a barber to Twins (MLB.com)

Weekly Reading (1/19/24)

What Could Tip the Balance in the War in Ukraine? (The New Yorker)

Adam Serwer: Disqualifying Trump Is Not Antidemocratic (The Atlantic)

Jamelle Bouie: Trump Doesn’t Actually Speak for the Silent Majority (NYT)

Can anything stop the toxic smog of New Delhi? (NPR)

See How 2023 Shattered Records to Become the Hottest Year (NYT)

The Last Gasp of the Iowa Kingmakers (The New Yorker)

Sinn Féin walks immigration tightrope toward power in Ireland (Politico EU)

Dangerous Insecurity: ‘May December’ and the Rotting Core of True Crime (The Ringer)

This is delightful: 'You're dating my sister? Why?' Newly minted NL West rivals are family first (MLB.com)

Classicism in the Romantic Era I: Was Stendhal Right about the Classical Tradition? (Antigone)

How the Mother of Modern Weaving Transformed the World of Design (Smithsonian)

Why the Nats don’t ride their bullpen cart: A Washington Post investigation (WaPo)

Weekly Reading (1/13/24)

I had a weirdly busy week and Friday got away from me, so hey, Saturday links this week!

More civilian casualties recorded in 2023 than any year since 2010 (The Guardian)

Adam Serwer: Who’s Afraid of Calling Donald Trump an Insurrectionist? (The Atlantic)

Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine (WaPo)

Northern Europe’s new naval priority: Submarine sabotage (Politico EU)

Uranus and Neptune Reveal Their True Colors (NYT)

The eye-popping price of MLB starting pitching keeps going up (WaPo)

Utah Bills Itself as “Family-Friendly” Even as Lawmakers Have Long Neglected Child Care (ProPublica)

‘Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go’ Turns 50 (NYT)

On the Serious Business of 19th-Century Fairy Paintings (LitHub)

See 25 Breathtaking Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest (Smithsonian)

Zadie Smith: On Killing Charles Dickens (The New Yorker)

Talking Music With Spencer Strider, Baseball’s Resident Indie Rock Head (GQ)

Weekly Reading (1/5/24)

Happy Friday! I miss putting together link roundups for you, but not having that deadline every morning has been very good for my writing output in general. So I'm going to try something different this year - a dozen or so links once a week (usually Fridays), with a variety of topics and probably a combination of new stuff and older pieces I happened upon and wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

Kangaroos, squirrels, and treasure hunting: The unique bills of the 2024 session (New Hampshire Bulletin)

Artificial intelligence can find your location in photos, worrying privacy experts (NPR)

New Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io Capture Infernal Volcanic Landscape (NYT)

The anonymous clock-watchers behind MLB’s pitch-clock gambit (The Athletic)

He’s The Trans Son Of An Anti-Trans Influencer. It’s His Turn To Speak. (HuffPost)

Let's Talk About Lineups (Baseball Prospectus)

You are not, in fact, the granddaughter of the witches they couldn’t burn (Going Medieval)

Russia Has a Vodka Addiction. So Does Vladimir Putin – But Not the Same Way. (Politico EU)

Women over 40 jump in to save double Dutch, a lost American pastime (WaPo)

Who First Realised the Earth Was Round? (Antigone)

Daniel Bard Made an Improbable Comeback. Then He Had to Do It Again (The New Yorker)

The Essential John le Carré (NYT)

My Top Reads of 2023

Happy New Year! I started trying to make a top five or ten list of books of the year and wound up with 30! Even then, there were some tough calls. I've divided them into categories here for your browing pleasure. Note: I only included books I read for the first time in 2023, and I only included one book per author. I also didn't include any books I read early that will be published in 2024 - those will go on that list. Each list is alphabetical by author because there are only so many decisions you can ask me to make on a holiday. Stars are the top 12 I made into a pretty graphic for Instagram.

Romance:

* Game Misconduct by Ari Baran
The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
* Diamond Ring by KD Casey
The Spare by Miranda Dubner
The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
* We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Mystery & Thriller:

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino
Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
* Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
* The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
* City of Dreams by Don Winslow

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

Kindred by Octavia Butler
* When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
* A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
* Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
Liar City by Allie Therin

Young Adult:

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
* We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
Always the Almonst by Edward Underhill

Other Fiction:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Charioteer by Mary Renault

Nonfiction:

* Winning Fixes Everything by Evan Drellich
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
* The Only Rule Is It Has to Work by Ben Lindbergh & Sam Miller